a grand finale

 Day 14. Final contact. It was a beautiful morning with lots of sunshine and a bit of a breeze. John & Roy were here at 7:30 and got to work on the final stairs. Before I knew it they were installing the gates, then they moved 3 super heavy benches up the 5 steps onto the deck. They disassembled their work area and with a blink of an eye were gone before Carm even got home from golf..

How would I rate the experience? An easy 5/5.

the last screw

I putzed around for the rest of the morning, having Carm move one heavy thing after another while I played with fluffy pillows. Happy.

We decided that an umbrella would be good so we dashed off to a semi-distant Home Hardware. With a stroke of luck, there was a blue umbrella! I also found 3 giant black planters which hold the old scummy planters.

This afternoon Jo Ellen and Don came for a late lunch. It was sunny and not too hot.

With the gates on we can block the dogs onto the deck so they can stay out  with us if it isn’t too hot, which reminds me, I have to dig out the outside dog bed that I have somewhere. It’s blue & white striped so it fits with the decor ;-)

Awesome!

“it’s finished!”

garlic harvest

 Lucky Day 13. Sunny and hot with a humidex of 30C by 11am.  The early morning was gorgeous with a portent of another hot day. John & Roy were here at the crack of dawn again and got busy with the skirting. They ran out of wood around 9:30 so started on the stairs on the pool level. Meanwhile, in la la land, I was putzing around making bread and egg bites and Carm was golfing - just a quick 9 holes. 

During our coffee break chat this morning they mentioned that people rarely served them coffee let alone food. Often they don’t even let them use the bathroom for heaven’s sake! I can’t imagine having someone working at the house and not taking care of them. Unthinkable!

It has been a challenge to think of what to serve though. Especially as we are all eating on our laps… best if no cutlery is required. Today’s lunch snack is egg bites with a few slices of bacon, and slabs of hot from the oven bread.

Carm had to go get more wood. It is unF%?King believable how much wood costs! It’s nothing to spend $600 or $800 for a few boards. No wonder Pierre was happy to get our old decking, nails and all! And then he was at the lumber store again for more hardware… and into town once more for his 2nd booster!

In between all that running around we harvested garlic… 142 bulbs! I think they are smaller than last year but Carm thinks they are the same size… hopefully he’s right.

By the end of the day a low set of stairs for the end near the garage and installing the 2 gates remains for Monday. I don’t expect it to take all day. We should crack a bottle of bubbles with them!

Speaking of bubbles, we toasted our first meal on the deck with Trudie & Leo - Trudie kindly brought a full spread for us to enjoy. The last bites of supper had just settled in our guts when the sky let loose. We ran around gathering up plates and bowls and glasses. Of course I had ‘dressed up’ our eating and seating areas so I was grabbing all the cushions and other decor (ha ha).

Awesome!

“beautiful morning with not even a breath of breeze”

“bread fresh from the oven”

rail against the machine

 Day 12. Hot and humid with humidex at 35C but not as brutal as yesterday. The railings are going up today at a rate that seems impossible. Then stairs or skirting, not sure what comes first (skirting probably). John and Roy also lifted up the 3 giant planters with the cedars in them.

Carm was gone for much of the morning doing countless errands, some deck related and others getting food. Hopefully eggs too… I planned to make banana spice muffins today but when I got to the part where I needed an egg, well, it seems that I hardboiled every single egg in the house! Dooh! So lunch will be hard boiled eggs and crostini. Maybe some dip too. (update, the muffins were done in time for lunch)

By 2pm (maybe earlier), all the railings were installed. I love it! It wasn’t my favorite style of railing but with the scale and surroundings they look fantastic. Carm and I put the post caps on all but the ones by the gates which still need to be installed. Lupa can no longer jump off the 5 foot drop at the end of the deck (she actually did this the other day and came out unscathed but I nearly had a heart attack! Especially as there was a towering pile of boards with huge nails sticking out.

John and Roy worked on the skirting the rest of the afternoon. They work well together with John taking the lead and Roy there to cut and deliver wood and other supplies. I try to stay out of their way but today the temptation to be outside was too great… ha ha!

I’ve been taking out icy wet cloths for them to put on their heads or necks but still the heat bears down on everyone.

In the afternoon (after countless trips to the city and the building supply store), Carm started leveling a spot to rest the stairs on.

After a cheater supper of hotdogs, I wandered outside and decided to move one of the metal chairs from the front deck to down by the pool, and then the other chair, of course the table. We sat on the deck thinking about what will go where and before we knew it four more plants came aboard, and the big dining table, and a chair, and the old deck box…

It’s a bit like moving into a new house :-)

still a bit of skirting needed here and there

Awesome!

“I thought I wouldn’t like the railings but I love them!”

“my honey out and about like an ancient hunter”

“finding what I think are the perfect solution to planters on the deck”

“the stairs from the house (again, awesome)”

stairway to heaven

 Day 11. Hot and humid with a humidex of 33C at 11am. The days drone on… we are into the 3rd week of construction…

All my time on facebook has yielded some wonderful results. First there were the med alta RAF bowls, then bricks. A few days ago I listed our old deck boards, nails and all - free for the taking. I didn’t hold out high hopes but it was worth a try.

Pierre was here this morning at 9 and took all the decking boards, a few 8x10s, and a pile of lattice attached to 2x4s. What little he didn’t take he piled to make it easier for us to pick up. I helped a bit but he did the majority of the work and took it all away! Awesome!!!

Later in the day… FB to the rescue again… we had a huge stack of awkward stumps in the rubble pile so listed them on FB and before I could even put my phone down someone was here to pick them up! Another AWESOME :-)

We also assembled the new deck box, on the new deck! The sun was at the top of its arc and blazing down hard. But we couldn’t woose out as Roy was hard at work cutting deck boards. I feel guilty being in the cool house while Roy and John sweat like someone who's been dropped into hell for a day.

The step from the house is done so we can get to the pool from the house! In fact, I think all the deck boards are done now. Tomorrow either railings or stairs to the ground (2 sets).

Awesome!

“getting rid of all those old decking boards to someone who will re-use them!”

“getting rid of the big pile of stumps (he filled the back of a van with them)”

“having 2 big piles of stuff gone!”

“STAIRS”

just a half step

 Day 10. Hot and sunny with a humidex of 35C. It’s steaming out there. The guys are hard at it today finishing the decking boards and framing the stairs from the house! Yippee! Stairs! Probably by end of day tomorrow we’ll be walking out of the house onto plank paradise..

Carm’s been out for another box of deck screws (the third box of 2000! 2 ½ inch brown screws). There’s been countless other fasteners including the big screws that cost $1 each (500 of those)...

The end is in sight. Maybe by the weekend…

I’m running out of ideas for the lunchtime snack so I just made sausages today. Do you have ideas for hands only snacks?

2:30pm. Carm just ran out again for ANOTHER load of wood :-0

We are still waiting for the deck box delivery from Costco… would like them to hurry up so I can let the dogs have a bit of a leg stretch. Plus I’m tired of watching out the window for them. (update - they pulled in just before 5pm)

Awesome!

“the piles of old wood and scraps is diminishing into John’s dump trailer”

“watching the stairs get built”

rain delay

 Day 9. Rain. The guys got some work done this morning, including the fussy bit beside the pool but heavy rain curtailed their day. Boo Hiss!

In the morning Carm and I drove to liquidation for one more large planter and an outdoor carpet… I picked up three skorts for $5 cause, you know, one can never have enough skorts! We were home in time for me to serve a little lunch (garlic ribs w celery and cucumber). Then after a try in the rain, John and Roy left for the day. It’s been coming down hard for a few hours now :-(

The weekend was hot and humid but we had enough deck around the pool for 2 chairs (and much more if we’d wanted to heft stuff on just to lug it off. Friday night Trudie & Leo came for a light supper… as soon as the deck is finished we’ll start inviting all the people that we haven’t seen for ages! We miss you!

 

Lupa gets to play with this toy from Aunty Kirsten every night at supper. She’s had it since we got her and still loves it.

Lupa hit 10 months yesterday and at 15lbs we hope she’s fully grown. She has calmed down a bit but still has to bark when someone comes into the house. One or two barks would be okay but she goes on and on no matter what I do. She is a yappy challenge! 

It was a day of discouragement with the rain bringing things to a halt.

Awesome!

“finding another planter for the deck”

“seeing a small table that would be perfect for by the pool at liquidation but it was too expensive so I checked the costco site and it’s way cheaper online!”

ladder of st augustine

 Day 8. Sunny and hot - high of 27C. I am cool in the house but I can tell from the wet shirts outside that it’s hot. I’ve been out a few times of course - both to see the progress and to bring snacks. Today I made zucchini muffins for morning break, and zucchini & bacon wraps along with a Korean hard boiled egg for lunchtime snack. 

At 1:30 John was finished decking the pool level (except for some fussy stuff that he’ll do on Monday) so we installed the pool ladder! The levels were perfect. There’s a few big piles of sawdust on the deck - should I just vacuum them with my regular vacuum or dig the wet vac out of the depths of the basement? Or maybe I should just sweep them into a dustpan.

As we were sitting under the trees having lunch I noticed Lupa rolling around in the grass but didn’t clue in to the fact that she was grinding stinky stuff into her fur… bath time for Bonzo. She’s small enough to quickly do her in my tub.

As I lay in bed last night, brain on overdrive, I thought back to the early days with Lupa and that kind witch lady that cast a ‘good dog’ spell over Lupa. Yes, she has turned into a good dog. Oh, she could learn to bark less and we don’t know how she is with other dogs as she hasn’t been exposed for so long. She does sometimes bark at people, especially if they picked her up without her ‘permission’. Once back on the ground she makes her preferences known! 

She’s curled up against my legs now, and unless she and Adia are playing, I can count on her being close. She snugs up in bed but doesn’t seem to take much space. I love the feeling of her warmth against my back as I drift to sleep. She’s funny and bold and into everything. There were only a few deck boards down before she jumped onto the deck to check it out. I have to keep her out from underfoot as she likes to be in the thick of things.

We ordered a furniture set! It has a sofa (long enough to nap on), 2 club type chairs, and a low coffee table. We ordered another giant deck box to hide away all the pool cleaning stuff.

Oh, and it’s our 33rd anniversary today :-) We’ll have a glass of bubbles on the deck…

Awesome!

“installing the pool ladder!!!!”

“pool level (mostly) done”

“33 years of wedded bliss”

“big thick steaks for supper”

board

 Day 7. Overcast with threat of rain - high of 23C. Sun came out after lunch to heat things up for the hard workers. It didn’t get much warmer but it felt hot and steamy (especially after the small amount of rain that we got early afternoon).

The rest of the posts for the railings went up - lots of fiddly work kept John and Roy busy till after lunch with just a short break for eating (red pepper basil hummus w pita, rice krispie squares) - maybe they can see the end in sight or maybe they are excited about getting some decking down. I am excited to see some boards on the floor!

Carm and I had the lazy job of assembling the two gates - the instructions were either terrible or my brain was struggling… the second gate went better.

I CANNOT believe how many pieces of wood it takes to make a deck. I should have counted! Oh, and the scrap pile… practically nonexistent.

The first decking board was screwed on around 2pm… I won’t lie, I was so excited that I was nearly crying. 

We discussed ‘skirting’ today… I wasn’t really thinking we’d do any but gosh, it will look completed with the bottom filled in. We’ll need to put in another $$$ wood order…  I can’t believe how expensive wood is now even though it has ‘apparently’ come down in price from last year.

Awesome!

“rice krispie squares”

“Adia having the zoomies as we sat around eating lunch”

“first deck board being screwed down”

“John planing the joists to make sure they are level”

“more decking down!”

“Lupa ‘helping’ us assemble the gate”

stairway to heaven

 Day 6. Sunny and warm but not brutally hot.

More fiddly work was done on the framing around the pool and the stairs between levels were framed. The first three railing posts were screwed into place. Progress is steady but there is so much more work that I envisioned. It’s a darn good thing that Carm and I didn’t try to build it ourselves!

I’m starting to get pretty excited about it and have been sleuthing the internet looking for furniture that I might like (probably for next year but I can’t help but look now!). I dashed out this afternoon and bought 3 outdoor cushions for the iron benches and a quilt to go over the ratty old swing. I love the swing but it has seen better days and seems too shabby to go onto the new deck!

Carm started taking nails out of the old 2x8s from the old deck. He figured one board had over 60 nails! What the heckity heck!

Awesome!

“shopping for deck accessories!”

“getting 4 packs of bacon cooked and stored”

“Lupa coming running across the field when I called her”

water starved dirt

 Day 5. Showers and sun. The guys started and almost finished the pool level which included moving 2 of the posts. Unfortunately the water starved dirt turned into a thick, sticky muck with last nights rain, hindering progress a bit.

I can finally envision the pool level! It’s going to be fantastic. Once the decking goes on I’ll be over the moon with excitement.

It was a long weekend for John & Roy which left us free to spend a few nights at Kirsten’s. The weather was fine and the company was excellent. 

Awesome!

“visualizing the pool level of the deck”

“wild flowers in the hedgerows at Kirsten’s”

“6 week old foal”

barking or talking

 Day 4. Sunny and warm. John & Roy are hard at it today building the frame of the upper deck. The guys are taking a longer weekend so we won’t see them back until Tuesday. They deserve the break as they have been working hard - physically. For two ‘old’ guys they sure put in a lot of hard labour. 

As the day progressed we could see the top level come together. The underpinning was finished yesterday and today they’ve done the platform that the decking boards attach to. I can visualize that level but am having a hard time picturing the pool level. I’ll have to be patient!

Today’s lunch break was some egg bites, garlic green beans, and a few almonds (never dipped in chocolate - not sucked off!). It was a beautiful sunny day :-)

Lupa is a talkative dog… she yaps at any and all interlopers but she also talks to us. Does she try to use words because she thinks we are too stupid to read dog body language? Today I was playing around with her and grabbed her back legs - well! She did not like that and once she was free she stood and barked at me to let me know her displeasure! It was pretty hilarious.

Awesome!

“visualizing the top level of the deck”

“a gorgeous morning for a walk around the hay field”

“lots of black jujubes”

the saddle

 Day 3 already! The guys finished twirling (a word that does not mirror the sheer strength needed to impale the dirt), the posts into the ground. They used a transit to level them up and have started the next step: the underpinning also known as the saddle. It’s made up of doubled 2x10s screwed together and attached to the posts.

This afternoon Carm and I started the task of moving wood around. We offloaded some decking boards from a stack to reveal the 2x10s… we moved some other wood around… we fully expect to be moving the same wood from one place to another… could this be an evil plan of John’s to get a certain someone from being underfoot ;-)

Actually Carm was barely here as he made one run after the other to the lumber store - 3 trips in all. Then he was on the phone for another wood delivery. In the afternoon he was moving wood. A busy day :-)

I spent some time this morning making Greek meatballs. I’m not sure if they turned out right but they were good. I made little lettuce wraps with them as the filler. They were tasty enough that all 12 wraps were eaten…

Awesome!

“sunny morning”

“sitting in a chair under the bird feeder tree”

pylons

 Deck refurbish day 2: I have the most persistent ear worm that I’ve had for a long time. ‘Roy’, the deck builder’s 63 year old helper, has triggered the song ‘pardon me Roy, is that the chattanooga choo choo’ or alternatively ‘pardon me Roy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes’! 

Like a race car in the pits, the house is a hub of activity this morning… deck builders in the back and plumbers in the basement are productively swarming. It’s wonderful and yet weird having all these strangers around. I took the dogs into the field for a run around but Lupa is still wired and ready to jump up at the slightest sound (actually she was much better after the walk). She jumps into my arms when I pick her up so I know she’s upset and wants to be comforted.

It’s 11:30 am - three loads of wood have been delivered; the hot water tank is almost installed; the guys in the back are working hard at getting the posts in. Our heavy clay is creating a lot of extra work. 

This morning I made 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies and a bunch have been gobbled already :-) I feel like I’m channeling Aunty Rena as I bustle around making coffees and baking stacks of cookies. I’m not making full meals for half a dozen hungry farm workers though! 

I remember everyone gathering around her kitchen table which was groaning with the weight of the food she’d prepared. When I stayed with her one summer oh so many years ago, I helped her harvest produce from her huge garden. There was no running water in the house at that time yet she managed to grow and preserve enough food to get them through the winter. I was only 13 at the time and didn’t appreciate the work that went into those homey feasts.

Awesome!

“a little patch of tiny daisies”

“3 dozen cookies”

day 1 desolation

 Deck refurbish day 1: Two burly construction guys in their 60s arrived just before 8am and with barely a moment to say hello they were lifting the heavy stuff off the deck for us. Then boards started flying off the deck at an incredible rate. 

By 9:30 the deck from the south end including the steps from the house were ripped off and stacked in a ricky pile. We tried to say out of the way of the flying boards as we cleaned up the detrus but Carm got a bit too close to one tossed board and got a nasty scrape on his leg. 

Nails! and more Nails! We’ll have a gargantuan task of pulling all the nails to complete over the summer. Then we’ll need Graham with his giant magnet.

I’ll be honest, a few tears almost pricked at my eyes as the first board was ripped off. While I’m looking forward to the new deck, this one will hold a spot in my heart - it gave us 25 years of summers. Oh, it was grizzled and shaky but there are so many wonderful memories.

Our materials were not scheduled to arrive until sometime Tuesday so by 9:45 am Carm dashed out to the Rona to pick up some things that were on the critical path. We seriously didn’t think the demolition could go this fast!

As the morning wore on I wore out… I figured I wasn’t accomplishing much so headed into the house. I may not be good at construction work but I do know how to make snacks! A trip to the garden for some lettuce and a can of tuna with some mayo and scapes morphed into little handheld munchies. They weren’t bad! I’ve taken a pound of butter out of the fridge so tomorrow it’s ready to transform (with help from flour and sugar, and a few other things), into a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.

By 3pm the deck was fully demolished, all the deck blocks & patio stones were stacked, and eight pylons were installed. Time to call it a day! I wasn’t sad to climb (literally) in and then out of the pool :-)

Lupa proved her worth in alerting us to any intrusion into the house - you’d have to be a ninja to sneak into our house! She did start to relax as the day went on and I imagine that as the work continues she’ll calm down more. Adia took the opportunity to make a few new friends :-)

What a day!

Awesome!

“beautiful morning walking in the field”

“fencerows filled with wildflowers”

“seeing the deck come down so fast”